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WHAT IS A STREETCAR?

Among modes of public transit, it's easy to see how streetcars differ from buses, but it's less clear what makes them distinct from other types of rail lines. Here are a few notable characteristics.

STREETCARS run on rails along a fixed route, many using overhead wires and a contact pole to power an electric motor.

MOST ROUTES are short and connect local points of interest; light rail lines may travel to suburbs or between cities.

LINES often run on existing city streets, either in their own lane or one shared with vehicles; light rail is often separated from car traffic and may be elevated or underground.

SPEEDS can average between 4 and 12 mph for most streetcars, typically slower than buses and light rail.

IN SOME CITIES, trolley is the preferred name for streetcars, but a trolley can also refer to a car that hangs from or is pulled by a cable.

A framed print hanging in Riverside Mayor William “Rusty” Bailey’s office of a red trolley passing the Fox theater is a look into the city’s past and, Bailey hopes, a glimpse of its future.

Riverside, like many U.S. cities, was served by streetcars until the mid-1950s, when fixed trolley lines gave way to more flexible buses and cars. Today, streetcars are back in vogue and popping up around the country. Tucson, St. Louis and Cincinnati are expected to start service this year.

Bailey said he believes Riverside should join the dozens of cities building or expanding modern streetcar lines for two reasons: A streetcar would improve transportation and make it possible to live and work here without a car, and it would spur development of offices, shops and apartments in its path.

“The No. 1 goal of this is a more robust public transportation system,” Bailey said in an interview. “One of the No. 1 outcomes is economic development. This is an answer to (the loss of) redevelopment.”

A study that’s now under way is expected to answer some of the many unknowns about the project Bailey has dubbed “Riverside Reconnects”: What’s the best route? How much would it cost, and who would pay? And how much power would it have to attract private development and boost the city’s economy?

The cost of a Riverside streetcar line is unknown, but the city’s high-end estimate of $25 million per mile would work out to $300 million for the proposed 12-mile system.

The preliminary plan is for a first phase running along University Avenue from UC Riverside to downtown, and a later segment from downtown to the southwest city limits along Magnolia Avenue. No decisions have been made on the location or number of stops, or whether the line would have a dedicated lane or share the road with traffic.

Other cities’ streetcar experiences have been mixed or are inconclusive because many are still in planning stages.

Among existing systems, performance varies widely and in most cities the transportation benefit “is really seen as secondary to the economic development (goal),” said Jeffrey Brown, an associate professor of urban and regional planning at Florida State University who has studied streetcars.

Streetcars are slow — those Brown studied averaged 4-7 mph — and some don’t run frequently enough or at the right times to serve commuters. There are also little solid data on how much economic development is a direct result of streetcar lines, Brown said.

Opinions of Riverside residents and business owners also vary widely, but Bailey should have plenty of time to try to win them over. The study is expected to take about a year, and a consultant working on it estimated it could be eight years before passengers are hopping on a Riverside streetcar.

BACK TO THE FUTURE

From the early to late 1800s, streetcars evolved from horse-drawn vehicles into electric cars that drew power from overhead wires. They allowed cities to expand beyond their densely populated cores and reached their height of popularity in the early 1900s, when they served not just cities but regions, said Arthur Guzetti, vice president of policy for the American Public Transit Association.

The rise of the automobile in the 1920s began to eat into streetcar ridership, and by the 1930s many of the original streetcar systems were deteriorating and made less economic sense to maintain, he said.

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